Education

INDEPENDENCE ― Transgender rights activist Kristin Plenger will speak at the Grayson County School Board meeting Aug. 8, to address recent changes the board made to the school system’s policy regarding restroom use.

Due to the state’s overestimation of this fiscal year’s budget, the school system’s dreams of expanding positions and giving raises out of state funds will be put on hold this time, according to Galax City Schools Superintendent Bill Sturgill.

Instead, the Galax School Board will have to rework its budget to pay for the raises with local funds.

INDEPENDENCE — Monday’s meeting of the Grayson County School Board was somber and thoughtful, as members discussed the best way to honor the memory of former at-large member Tim “T.T.” Carico, who died from injuries sustained in an accident last week.

Carico’s empty seat was no longer decorated with his name plaque Monday night, and fellow members were vocal in the fact that the agenda would be short that evening.

The new football field surface at Galax High School would not have been ready in time for the fall 2016 football season, owing to a narrow turnaround time for state permits, so school officials will wait until 2017 to begin work.

Superintendent Bill Sturgill updated the Galax School Board at its June 9 meeting.

INDEPENDENCE — Tim “T.T.” Carico, at-large member of the Grayson County School Board and an active member of the Grayson community, died last Wednesday after being injured in an accident a few days earlier.

Grayson County Sheriff Richard Vaughan confirmed Thursday in a news release that on July 3, at approximately 10 p.m., county deputies, along with Independence Fire and Independence Rescue members, responded to Peach Bottom Road to an accident involving an all-terrain vehicle.

INDEPENDENCE — The Grayson County Public Schools administration announced Wednesday that in one year, a previous $900,000 deficit in the school budget has been eliminated using a series of cuts and savings methods.

This announcement came one week after the Grayson County School Board’s close-out meeting for the year. At that time, there was an estimated remaining deficit of $8,715.53, with the possibility for receiving more funding before the end of June.

RICHMOND ― A federal district court in Virginia last week ordered the Gloucester County School Board to let a transgender student use the same restrooms as other boys at his school.

The June 23 ruling could have an impact on a restroom policy the Grayson County School Board approved in May, which says all students must use the restroom that matches the gender listed on their birth certificate.

The student in the Gloucester case was born female, but identifies as male.

INDEPENDENCE — The Grayson County school system’s 10-year plan includes a new elementary school and new high school, along with smaller short-term goals, like improving teacher salaries.

At the Grayson County School Board’s June 13 meeting, Schools Superintendent Kelly Wilmore updated the board on the plan.

Wilmore highlighted several goals, including heating and cooling system improvements; a new turf athletic field; a new reading program; an improvement of teacher salaries; and, eventually, a new elementary school and high school.